Rebecca Long-Bailey, a front-running candidate in the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party boss, has said she would give the outgoing leader “ten out of ten” for his performance, despite the socialist losing every national election and cause he backed in four years.
The enthusiastic affirmation of belief in the retro-socialist policies of Jeremy Corbyn which saw Labour lose the 2016 Brexit referendum, 2017 general election, 2019 European Parliament election, and 2019 general election came from Long-Bailey came just hours after she said the party needed a “proud socialist leader” to flourish in future.
Speaking to British television network ITV, Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “I thought Jeremy was one of the most honest, kind, and principled politicians I’ve ever met.” When asked how she would rate him out of ten, she replied: “Well, I’d give him ten out of ten. Because I respect him, and I supported him all the way through.”
Moving to explain why the Corbyn era had been such a spectacular failure for the Labour movement in the United Kingdom despite her belief that proud socialism was the way forward, Long-Bailey blamed Britain’s mainstream media for treating Mr Corbyn unfairly. She continued: “What we can’t ignore is that Jeremy was absolutely savaged by the press. His character was taken to pieces from day one.”
It is not clear which part of Jeremy Corbyn’s political career Long-Bailey thought had been unfairly treated by the media, with him having gained negative attention for scandals including an apparent surge in antisemitism in the party under his leadership, his historic closeness to violent extremist figures, or even his affinity for Iran.
Long-Bailey — widely regarded as being groomed by the influential hard-left wing of the Labour Party as a ‘continuity Corbyn’ candidate, although she denies this — has been rated as a top candidate in the race to replace since Mr Corbyn announced he would be standing down in December, even though she only officially announced her candidacy this week. UK bookmaker Betfair offers odds of 7/2 on Long-Bailey, behind only Keir Starmer who leads the pack on 10/11.
As Breitbart London reported Tuesday, Long-Bailey burnished her socialist views in a magazine piece in which she mentioned socialism 11 separate times, writing: “We need a leader that can be trusted with our socialist agenda. A leader who is totally committed to the policies and has the political backbone to defend them.
“We need a proud socialist to lead the Labour Party, driven by their principles and an unwavering determination to see democratic socialism in our lifetime.”
A new Labour leader will be announced on April 4th, 2020.